This is in many ways a remarkable scripture. Everything, as is the case in this epistle, is traced up to God. (Compare chapter 5:18) It is “He who establisheth us with you in Christ” (βεβαιῶν εἰς, “attaches firmly to,” “connects firmly with”—see note in New Translation); and He who “hath anointed us is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” We have thus three characters of the Holy Spirit as dwelling in the believer. First, as the anointing. The sons of Aaron were anointed, after being sprinkled with the blood, in association with Aaron, who, as type of Christ, had been anointed, without blood, alone. So our blessed Lord was anointed at His baptism. (Matthew 3, compare Acts 10:38) Then, after His death, resurrection, and ascension, “having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,” He “shed forth” the Spirit on His own on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:33) The precious ointment on the Head ran down to the skirts of His garments (Psalms 133:2); and thus, His followers were anointed of God. The effect of the anointing is to give intelligence (1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 John 2:20,27) and power. (Acts 10:38) The very name which God has permitted to be attached to believers—that of Christians—indicates this character of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of “Christ” is “the Anointed One,” and hence that of “Christians” is “anointed ones;” and it also points clearly to their association (not to say union) with Christ in the anointing, explaining doubtless the reason of our being reminded in this scripture that God has connected us with Christ.
We are also sealed by God. It should be borne in mind that, whether as anointing or sealing, it is the same Spirit, and takes place at the same time, though the character is different. When God seals the believer—and He seals every believer who has the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 10:43, 44; Ephesians 1:13, &c)—He marks them out as belonging to Christ (Romans 8: 9), and He secures them until the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30) The Spirit as the seal thus points to ownership and security, God in His grace impressing His stamp upon, us, and making it at the same time inviolable. The Holy Spirit as dwelling in us is likewise the earnest; that is, He is the pledge and guarantee that we shall be put into possession of all that God has promised, the bestowment of a part which ensures the whole. In Ephesians He is “the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:14); in this epistle (2 Corinthians) He is the earnest rather of our resurrection bodies, of our being “clothed upon with our house which is from heaven... that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” (Chapter 5:1-5)
What a field of research then is opened up to us in such a scripture as this! And how few of us have comprehended, in any measure, our priceless possession in the gift of the Holy Ghost!
E. D.